READ THE CITIZENS' VOICE

Digital Only Subscription
Read the digital e-Edition of The Citizens' Voice on your PC or mobile device, and have 24/7 access to breaking news, local sports, contests, and more at citizensvoice.com or on our mobile apps.

Digital Services
Have news alerts sent to your mobile device or email, read the e-Edition, sign up for daily newsletters, enter contests, take quizzes, download our mobile apps and see the latest e-circulars.

Obituaries

Article Tools

Getting a ride to work in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties could soon be much easier.

Transportation planners in both counties are weighing a proposal from Commuter Services of Pennsylvania to increase carpooling opportunities for Northeastern Pennsylvania residents and promote more widespread use of public transportation.

The idea is to reduce traffic congestion, wear and tear on roads and air pollution while helping working-class people stretch their budgets.

"The benefits are numerous," said Matthew Boyer, executive director of Commuter Services. "Instead of one individual paying for all of their individual gas, all of their individual auto maintenance and all of their individual parking fees, they can split it among several people."

Commuter Services works by creating a database of people who are looking for carpool opportunities and allowing them to connect based on common geography and schedules. Through an online search, people can get names and phone numbers of other travelers heading the same way at the same time.

That often means a carload of people split travel costs, but when there is enough demand, it can be even more economical to rent a van, Boyer said.

The service has become increasingly popular where it is available. Between 2006 and 2013, the Commuter Services database grew from 2,584 commuters to 25,849 travelers in nine south-central Pennsylvania counties, according to the organization's annual report.

The nonprofit commuter service helped cut 139 million miles worth of driving from roads in those nine counties in 2012 alone, Boyer said.

That is a benefit with which the region's transportation planners are very interested, particularly on Interstate 81, where traffic already exceeds the interstate's capacity and is projected to only get worse.

The nonprofit also strives to ease traffic congestion by aggressively promoting additional use of public transportation.

Many people who work second and third shifts can get to work using County of Lackawanna Transit System, but by the time they get out, COLTS is no longer running, so they cannot get home, said Steve Pitoniak, Lackawanna County's transportation planning manager.

Commuter Services could fill the gap for those people if they can arrange carpools for the return trip, Pitoniak said.

The Lackawanna/Luzerne Metropolitan Planning Organization would have to dedicate between $300,000 and $350,000 in federal funds to Commuter Services each year to fund the nonprofit's expansion to Northeastern Pennsylvania.

That creates a decision about whether to invest Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement funding in the commuter service or transportation infrastructure improvements, said Nancy Snee, interim executive director of the Luzerne County Planning Commission.

Common uses for the funding include traffic signal improvements and roadway redesign projects.

The 535,355-person Lackawanna/Luzerne MPO got $4.9 million per year in federal funding during the latest four-year Transportation Improvement Plan, and about $336,000 is currently left, Snee said.

The funding level for the 2015 plan is scheduled to drop to about $3.4 million per year, she said.

If the MPO decides to move forward with Commuter Services, the earliest the nonprofit could come set up shop would be Oct. 1, Boyer said. Some of the organization's first moves would include outreach to colleges and businesses with more than 50 employees.

kwind@timesshamrock.com, @kwindTT

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.